Mija Riedel examines Michele Pred’s search for materials.

Setting aside the yuck factor, how does Jennifer Angus find and acquire the thousands of
insects she deploys in her remarkable wallpaper-like installations? Jody Clowes explores
her art and tracks her adventures as a bug collector.

In 20 years, University Hospitals in Cleveland has assembled a first-rate art and craft collection that contributes to an environment beneficial to patients, medical personnel and visitors. Dorothy Shinn surveys the high points and talks to the collection's curator, Trudy Wiesenberger, about the impetus behind such a collection.

Susan Meller, a veteran textile collector, has assembled and published an eye-dazzling array of Russian-manufactured fabrics made for the bazaars of Central Asia. Andrea DiNoto queries her on the allure of these colorful cloths and garments and on her tech-savvy approach to locating choice examples.

Interior architect Margo Grant Walsh has assembled a stellar collection of 20th-century silver and metalwork, now on view in an exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and documented in its companion book. Alan Rosenberg visits with Grant Walsh and finds out what prompted this ongoing collecting passion.

Contemporary fiber art is a "hot" area of collecting these days, witness an exhibition-cum-symposium at the Textile Museum in Washington D.C. Tara Leigh Tappert looks at the work and listens to the collectors, revealing the passions, not to say obsessions, that drive this curious breed.